Friday, 25 November 2016

My mum and I hatched a plan to make everyone's gifts a surprise: we put each present in a HUGE box.

My dad and my sister were very surprised to see such a giant pile of gifts by the tree!

Each parcel was an exciting mystery package: no guessing what it could be by the shape or the size. Was it going to be the book you asked for? A DVD? Those earrings you saw on Etsy? A chocolate orange?

Some large rolls of cute wrapping paper cost us just a few quid (we bought ours from Wilko), and we saved up boxes from online deliveries and got some appliance boxes down
from the loft (the box for the printer, etc). You could also use shoe boxes, office storage boxes or even buy a pack of moving boxes.

I scrunched up newspaper to fill each box, and nestled the gifts in the centre so they wouldn't rattle about and there would be the extra fun of hunting through the newspaper to find the present. I used the biggest box for the smallest present, of course! For added sneakiness, you could put ordinary household objects in the boxes as well to disguise their weight.

The trickiest part of the plan was wrapping all those big boxes in secret on Christmas Eve and sneaking them into the lounge that afternoon when no-one was looking but luckily I managed it.

Just a few boxes was all it took for an extra fun and memorable Christmas - I highly recommend trying it with your family! This might not be the best idea to try with young children who may be
disappointed that a big box doesn't mean a big gift, but as we're all
grown up we loved it.

Wednesday, 23 November 2016

Time for a Nice Day Out flashback! Today I'm sharing some photos from a trip I took to Oxford this spring.

I always try to squeeze as much as possible into my day trips to Oxford, it's such a beautiful city and there's so much to see. My first stop of the day was...

... Christ Church Picture Gallery, which is housed in a purpose-built building within the college grounds. If you visit the whole college you'll pass the gallery on your way out but if (like me) you just want to see the art, you enter via the rather imposing Canterbury Gate at the back of the college...

... and the Picture Gallery is right there, on your left (complete with bicycles, of course, like every other building in Oxford!).

This gallery is one of the many, many places I'd probably never have heard of or thought of visiting if it weren't for my Art Pass. I waved my membership card, paid my discounted entry fee and proceeded to get rather absorbed in the gallery's petite but wonderful collection of art which I was lucky to have almost entirely to myself for most of my visit.

After that dose of peace and quiet and culture I headed back out into the busy city. There are so many interesting buildings squished together in the city centre - with famous sights and fascinating architectural details everywhere you look.

... then headed to the Ashmolean (Oxford's Museum of Art and Archaeology) to meet up with Polly for a cuppa and some more sightseeing.

I couldn't resist stopping to take photos of this churchyard I passed along the way - there were so many bluebells, and all the colour of the spring sky! So lovely.

The Ashmolean is amazing, and free to visit (apart from special exhibitions). Whether you spend a few minutes there or many hours it's always an absolute joy, and the cakes in their cafe are very tasty (this is a very important part of the museum-visiting experience!).

We checked out the Architecture in Miniature exhibition (very cool tiny versions of famous Oxford buildings), strolled through some of the other galleries oohing over all the interesting things, then had a cuppa and some cake before heading out to do some more exploring.

I'll share what we got up to (along with lots more Oxford pics) in Part Two, sometime soon! :)

1. Use
the templates provided to cut out two bell shapes from royal blue felt.

2.
Cut ribbon piece a few cm wider than the bell. Sew on with tiny white whip stitches (or
line of running stitch at edge) folding over ends. When fold ends over,
sew at back with small whip stitches sewing into the felt not through
it.

3. Two rows of silver seed beads. Sew with double thickness of blue sewing thread. I used 5 beads for top and 6 for bottom row. Start row in centre to help get lines up neatly. Then bottom row sewn between gaps in top row.

4. Add mini bow with a few stitches in centre - to attach the silver bow I used white thread.

5. Cut
a 15cm (6 inch) length of narrow
white ribbon. Fold the ribbon into a loop and sew the ends to the top of the undecorated bell shape. Use whip stitch and blue
sewing thread,
sewing into the felt not through it.

6. Place
the front and back bell pieces together so the ends of the ribbon are
sandwiched between the two layers and the loop sticks out the top of the ornament.

Hold or pin the two bell pieces together
and blanket stitch around the edge, using half strands of white
embroidery thread and folding the bow forwards as you sew behind it. Start at the top right corner of the stocking, stitch most of the way round and leave a gap for stuffing.

Tip: sew along the bottom edge of the bell last so you have a straight edge open when stuffing the ornament.

7.
Add small pieces of stuffing to gradually fill the star, stuffing it
lightly so it's evenly filled but still very squishy. Then sew up the
gap with more blanket stitches and finish your stitching neatly at the
back.

8. Add jingle bell. Double thickness blue thread. Sew in between layers so knot is hidden, then sew out. Sew through bell a few times to secure then finish your stitching at the back.

This tutorial is for personal use only: you can use it to stitch
as many felt ornaments as you
want for yourself or as gifts, but
please don't make any for sale. You may borrow a photo or two if you
want
to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to
the original source, and do not reproduce my entire post or share the
pattern itself on your
site. Thanks!

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Feel free to borrow a photo or two if you're blogging / Pinning / etc my projects but don't repost the tutorials or any templates or patterns. Please always credit me and link back to my blog. Thanks xx

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